ANNUAL REPORT - Rainforest Alliance

The project in Aceh gives local residents the incentive to protect their forests by enabling
them to earn proceeds from carbon credits sold on the international carbon exchange
market to companies aiming to offset their emissions. The additional income allows Aceh
communities to develop alternative livelihoods such as sustainably managed small-scale
forestry businesses and farms. Such investments are vital to the economic recovery of
Aceh, which is still rebuilding after years of violent political upheaval and the 2004 tsunami
that left hundreds of thousands of people dead or homeless.
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Through our first validation
of a carbon-offset project,
the Rainforest Alliance is
helping to ensure that the
residents of Aceh, Indonesia
receive financial incentives
to protect their resources.
Guiding China Along the Path to Sustainable Forestry
China’s explosive economic growth over the last decade has made it one of the biggest
global manufacturers of wood products — the country is now the world’s leading furniture
exporter and plywood producer. But much of the wood is imported from environmentally
destructive — and often illegal — sources in Southeast Asia, Russia and Africa. To encourage
the conservation of forests, the Rainforest Alliance…
By transforming logging concessions
into conservation areas and community
forestry zones that permit limited and
carefully managed harvesting, the carbon
project in Aceh, Indonesia aims to reduce
the deforestation rate by 85 percent
over 30 years. This will conserve more
than 711, 000 acres (288,000 hectares) of
forestland — thereby avoiding the emission
of more than 3.3 million tons of carbon
dioxide annually, which is about equivalent
to the annual emissions of 150,000
Americans (or 300,000 Europeans).
• Co-sponsored a major international conference in Beijing on sustainable forestry and
the benefits of certification that was attended by more than 240 conservation experts,
investors, and government and business leaders from around the world.
• Has been promoting FSC certification, training over 8,000 government officials, entrepreneurs,
scientists and students in sustainable forestry since 2005.
• Established the only professional forest certification Web site in China, in partnership
with the Chinese Academy of Forestry and WWF China.
The number of FSC Chain-of-Custody certificates issued in China has jumped
by over 400 percent over the past three years; the number of FSC forest
management certificates has increased by 200 percent; and the acreage of FSCcertified
forestland has increased by 70 percent.